The Trotting Dead - Book One, Volume One - A New World

"Colgate, I got it! I got this stupid bitch, I'm gonna end her now!" said a little filly out loud. She stood over Twilight's body, with a shovel poised to strike.

Twilight said in a dazed, very faint voice, "Scootaloo... I found you..." She passed out, her head hitting the cobblestone underneath her.

"Hey, Colgate, it talked... It called me Scootaloo..." she said worriedly. Her older sister walked over to her after dispatching a gnarly, rotten pony standing next to her.

"Now, Lyra, you know they don't talk! I think we actually got a breather..." her sister replied back to her.

She turned around and fired her snub-nosed revolver again at another gory citizen of their town, striking it straight in the head. Blood spewed from the exit-wound and out onto the road. "Now, let's see to getting her inside."

Lyra nodded back and helped her sister lift Twilight's motionless body and carry her into a cottage two blocks down the road. Colgate shifted slightly and turned the nob gently. She pushed the door open and they brought Twilight into the living room, where there was a futon laid out onto the ground in case they ever had a visitor.

"Well, now we've got some pony to take up the spare bed," Lyra mused. Her sister walked upstairs.

After a few steps, she turned and walked back down. "You see to it that she's taken care of," she ordered her younger sister.  Lyra nodded in return and began unbuttoning Twilight's uniform shirt to analyse the bandage she had only gotten a brief glimpse of.

She saw that it slightly red from blood leaking through and staining it. She wondered what was under that bandage. Was she bitten? Stabbed? Shot? Lyra couldn't tell and didn't want to take it off since she didn't know what would happen.

Lyra wasn't like most 13-year-old fillies. She wasn't nosy or stubborn. She did as she was told, no questions asked. She never told a lie, always kept her promises, and was one you depend on. And yet, her curiosity often got the better of her.

Lyra decided to put her hoof on the newcomer's forehead. It felt warm, quite warm. Shit, she said to herself. She then decided to make sure by bringing her hoof to Twilight's neck. It was somewhat cool, which gave her a relief. "Must've been the heat," she muttered. She analyzed Twilight a little more. She kept her eye on Twilight's badge for some time, eventually deviating her attention to the mare's Peacemaker. She was transfixed by its shining, polished steel barrel, particularly the business end.

"Lyra, sweetheart," Colgate called from the kitchen. Lyra's head snapped up, and she drew her creeping hoof away from Twilight's piece. "I need you to come help set the table. We want show hospitality to our new guest."

Lyra slowly got up from the living room floor and trotted into the kitchen. "Whatcha need help wit'?" she asked thoughtfully.

"M'kay, I need you to light the lanterns, but make sure the curtains are closed, kay?" she replied.

"Sure thing," Lyra called back sweetly as she set off to work.

"And then I need you to set out the plates and silverware, kay, sis?"

"No prob!"

Colgate began thinking to herself, Poor thing. Bon Bon's death mustn't have worn off that fast. She trying to hide, I'm sure.

Colgate's best friend, Bon Bon, had been infected with the virus Spike had spoken about, and was killed by it. Lyra never really was the same since, given that Bon Bon was like an aunt to her, they were so close. Colgate thought her pain was bad, but when she saw how her sister would cry herself to sleep at night, her thoughts turned. Now she had to make sure her sister would stay safe, clean, uninfected. She had to keep that promise, for Bon Bon.

"Hey, sis, I think she's awake!" Lyra called out. Colgate turned her attention from her thoughts to their visitor.

Twilight sat up on the futon, her eyes blinking and smarting, adjusting to the dimness of the candles and oil lamps. She looked around and took in her surroundings. She then cringed from the pain in her abdomen.

"Hey, there, stranger. Thought you was gonna turn on us."

Twillight looked up at the other unicorn lording over her. She blinked again and then saw that her revolver was on the endtable next to her. If she could just...

Then, seeing what Twilight was planning, Colgate got up, walked over to grab her revolver, brought it over, and sat back down. She showed it to Twilight. "This what you lookin' fer?"

Twilight nodded spitefully.

"Well, look, you can have it." She tossed it onto the matress, making it bounce ounce towards Twilight.

She didn't even touch it. She stared at it in shock, suprised by how much these people were trusting her.

Colgate and  her little sister got up and walked over to the supper table. Colgate called back, "Your  welcome to join us, if you wants."

Twilight nodded and got up slowly. She sat down at the table, taking in the aroma of her food. She was about to take a forkful when her curiosity got the better of her. She took a sip of water out of the glass next to her in order to moisten her throat.

Setting the glass back down, she finally croaked, "So, what exactly is goin' on here? What was the deal with the..."

She used her hoof to make a motion at the front door, implying something that happened outdoors.

"Ah, yes. You see, we thought you was another one o' them trotters, so Lyra slung you over the head with her shovel. You might say that you were lucky she didn't crack your skull, 'cause that's what coulda happened." She took a bite out of her pasta and set the fork back down. Upon swallowing, she finished, "I suppose after supper, I oughta tells you bout all this mess."

Twilight had finally eaten some of her own food, wiped her mouth, then nodded, "Yes, ma'am, I'd appreciate that very much."

"Good, now both o' y'all, shut up and eat."

*******

"Scootaloo," Colgate began. She looked up from her plate and straight into Twilight's eyes. "She your daughter?"

Twilight was taken aback by the question. How did she know? Twilight nodded, her brows slightly furrowed. She began to clear her throat, about to speak, when Lyra decided to participate.

"You called me Scootaloo."

Twilight looked at the little filly in bewilderment. "How... Wha?" she began.

"When I knocked you upside the head, you looked up at me and said 'Scootaloo, I found you,' "

"Surely your mistaken," she replied in a raspy voice. She cleared her throat and said, "I wouldn't have--

"But ya did," Lyra interrupted. Her older sister began to get agitated

"Lyra!" she exclaimed. "Give her a chance to speak her mind,"

"No, it's fine. I just didn't understand at first, but that's okay. I must have been... oh, I don't know, just... assumin' stuff, I guess." She took another bite from her spaghetti and then set her fork down.

Pushing the plate about an inch from her, she said, "I'm mighty grateful your being this kind to me,"

"Anything to somehow earn ourselves some heaven in this hell, officer friendly. Didn't quite get a name, what was it again?" she asked.

"My name is Deputy Sheriff Twilight Sparkle. I woke up in the hospital earlier today, and I have no idea as to what's going on."

Twilight suddenly remembered something. "Those ponies... that you shot... why?"

Colgate cleared her throat. "I was gonna get to that sometime or another, wasn't I?"

Twilight nodded.

"Right," she said halfheartedly. "Well, you see, I'd have to go back about two weeks ago.

"There was a virus... nothing anybody had ever seen before. It was... terrifying... Ponies would get infected, and within a matter of about eight hours, would be dead. Those would be eight hours of pure torment. Blood vomit, one-hundred eight degree fevers, diarrhea, all sorts of nasty shit. But that wasn't all.

"Once you finally died, after about half an hour, you..." she winced and continued. "...got back up... All that you used to be was gone. The only thing left would be an empty shell of rotting flesh. You'd become a monster, nothing but a mindless, undead cannibal, eating anything made of meat, practically anything that walked and talked or something like it. The worst part was that if any pony you knew became infected, you'd have no choice but to kill them; you'd have to put a bullet through their brain. That was the problem, people would lose those close to them and wouldn't -- couldn't -- kill them. Sure, it was easy to kill the ones you didn't know, didn't care about, but no pony ever thought... never considered... it spread so fast...

But that doesn't matter now... You see, this virus... it spreads through bites... If you get bit, you're goner, might as well eat lead for dinner, if you catch my drift."

Twilight understood what she meant. "Suicide..."

"Precisely!  But that's another problem, is that no one understood how kill the infected. You gotta take out the brain. Severing the head don't work. It has to be the brain. Cut their heads off, all you're creating is a problem on the ground. Remember, whenever you have to kill them yourself, get the fucking brain!"

Twilight just nodded. Not much else to do. Her thoughts turned to Spike and Scootaloo. Were they alright? And what about Rainbow Dash? She could never be sure...

"So, where you headed?"

Twilight's head snapped up. "Oh, what?"

"Asked where you's goin'."

"Oh, uh, Canterlot."

Lyra and Colgate looked at each other with worry. Colgate spoke up, "I wouldn't advise that."

"Why?" she asked.

"If you go there, you've got another one coming!"

Twilight was confused. What was she talking about?